Key Takeaways from Our Latest Scaling & Funding Panel : 29th Jan

Key Takeaways from Our Latest Scaling & Funding Panel

Insights from Investors, Founders and Strategy Leaders

Scaling a business and securing funding is rarely about one perfect pitch deck or a single breakthrough moment. More often, it is about doing the fundamentals well, consistently, and proving that your business can execute.

That message came through clearly at our recent Get Funding Ready & Scale Smart event, where a strong panel of founders, investors and advisors shared practical, experience-based insights with an audience of scaling Irish businesses.

A strong panel with real experience

The discussion was expertly moderated by Fiona Nagle, who kept the conversation focused, balanced and honest. Fiona also contributed her own perspective on funding decisions, particularly the importance of maintaining choice and autonomy as a founder.

The panel brought together experience from multiple angles:

• Paul Coyle, sales leader and advisor with deep experience helping companies build predictable revenue engines
• Helen Cahill, founder of Financefair and an investor with direct HPSU experience
• Dermot Berkery, Partner at Delta Partners, offering an investor and advisory perspective
• Seán McLoughlin, Founder of ResHub, sharing the lived reality of fundraising, scaling and eventual acquisition

The result was a refreshingly practical discussion, focused less on theory and more on what actually works.

Start with the customer and be brutally clear

Paul Coyle set the tone early with three simple but powerful questions every founder should be able to answer clearly:

• What is the customer's problem?
• How big is that problem?
• Is there a budget to solve it?

Without strong answers to these questions, sales stall and so does funding. Paul reinforced that sales is 98% science and 2% art. Process, discipline and consistency matter far more than clever messaging.

He also stressed the importance of outbound sales activity. Getting out to customers, attending conferences, asking for referrals and actively engaging target accounts all matter. In short, founders need to spend time talking to customers.

Recommended reading from Paul included The Qualified Sales Leader, The Dip and Hacking Growth. Each reinforces the importance of focus, execution and persistence over polish.

Revenue matters but control matters just as much

From an investor perspective, Helen Cahill made it very clear that revenue growth alone is not enough.

In her view, predictable, recurring revenue should be treated as an investable asset class. Investors value reliability and visibility far more than short-term spikes.

Equally important is financial control. Revenue can be growing strongly, but cash may still be under pressure. Understanding margins, cash flow, burn rate and runway is critical, and it is often where early-stage teams fall down.

Helen also highlighted the importance of the management team, noting that when Agile Executives is supporting the finance function, it gives her significantly more confidence when assessing a funding opportunity. Strong leadership and financial oversight materially reduce risk.

She also noted that having Enterprise Ireland involved as an investor is viewed very positively, based on her own experience building an HPSU-backed business.

How investors really think about risk

Dermot Berkery added a pragmatic investor lens to the discussion. A key point was that runway is often assessed over shorter timeframes than founders expect. Investors want to see clear milestones and confidence in near-term execution.

He also encouraged founders to treat investors as trusted advisors, to avoid over-complicating the cap table early, and to recognise that while business plans and pitch decks are important, investors ultimately back founders they believe they can work with.

Trust, credibility and communication all play a major role in funding outcomes.

The founder reality of fundraising

Seán McLoughlin brought a founder's perspective shaped by real experience. Having built and scaled ResHub through HPSU support and on to acquisition, his message was candid.

Fundraising, he said, can easily become a full-time job and it is often dilutive. While raising capital, founders still need to deliver in sales, vision and financial control. That tension is real.

His advice was clear:

• Build systems so the business can run without founder bottlenecks
• When funding lands, invest in making the business more resilient
• Be honest about weaknesses and get the right support early
• The right management team makes an enormous difference

Proof before polish

Across the entire panel, a consistent message emerged.

Proof before polish.

Control before scale.

Credibility before capital.

This is exactly the lens we take at Agile Executives when supporting scaling companies, combining experienced fractional leadership with a focus on revenue quality, financial control, systems and execution.

A thank you to our hosts

A special thank you to Gerry Walsh, Managing Director of Dynamic Space Events, for hosting the session in such a professional and collaborative environment. The venue provided the perfect backdrop for open discussion and peer learning.

Join us at the next event

This event is part of our quarterly Scaling & Funding series, designed for ambitious Irish companies preparing for their next growth phase.

We encourage founders and leadership teams to register for our upcoming events to hear directly from experienced founders, investors and advisors, and to gain practical guidance they can apply immediately.

If you are serious about scaling smart, we would love to see you at the next session.